Odisha’s Plea For Additional COVID-19 Vaccine: Union Minister Advises State To Procure Fresh Stock

Bhubaneswar: Side-stepping Odisha’s request for fresh stock of COVID vaccine to recommence precaution dose, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya advised the state to procure additional vaccine as per the requirement of its people.

The Minister, who was on a three-day visit to Odisha to attend several programmes, told reporters in Bhubaneswar that the Central government has already supplied COVID-19 vaccine to all states out of the stock available with it.

This apart, the private sector has also been given permission for undertaking vaccination, he said, adding that people who want to get vaccinated can visit the private hospitals for the required jab.

If the state government wants to get fresh stock, it can procure COVID19 vaccine as per its requirement and administer necessary doses to its people, Mandaviya added.

Reacting to the Union Minister’s statement, Odisha’s Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das said no written reply has been received from the Centre so far in this regard. If necessary, the state government is prepared to procure more COVID-19 vaccine, he said.

Notably, the Odisha government had recently written to the Centre for fresh stock of COVID vaccines to recommence vaccination of precaution dose to the left out people in the state.

In a letter, Das had drawn the attention of Mandaviya to the outbreak of new variant BF-7 of COVID-19 in countries like China, Japan, USA, Brazil, Republic of Korea with India reporting some cases.

The minister sought supply of additional quantity of precaution dose to the state for vaccination of the left out people to be administered in government’s COVID Vaccination Centres.